What is a Credit Report

Today Jan and I will begin a series of posts in areas associated with home financing.  We will start with credit reports and cover topics such as credit repair and protection, a very important issue in todays world, and continue with material on various loan products available to borrowers in the current market.

Your credit report, or credit file disclosure, is a record of all of the information  that a credit reporting company has obtained about you from various sources, including companies that have extended credit to you as well as government entities such as the court system.  This file also includes information on who has requested or viewed your report.  

This report shows your payment history, account information such as the date the account was opened, the high limit, high balance, and if closed, the date and terms of the closure.  This information is used by lenders and others (increasingly employers are accessing this report)  as an aide to determining your likelihood and ability to repay a debt...or your creditworthiness. 

There are three major credit reporting agencies in the US:

• Equifax: 1-877-576-5734  www.equifax.com     
• Experian: 1-888-397-3742 www.experian.com 
• Trans Union: 1-800-680-7289 www.transunion.com

As a point of clarification, credit reports are not the same thing as credit scores, which we will cover in our next post!

Creditors update your activity to the credit reporting agencies sometimes as often as once each month.  It is becoming increasingly important to review your credit file for incorrect information on some type of regular basis.  Your initial review should identify any existing incorrect entries, but close attention to subsequent reports will allow you to ensure the accuracy of future entries, as well as identify any potential instances of identity theft.

YOUR RIGHTS
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT)

Under the FCRA, you have the right to a free copy of your credit report that contains all of the information in your file at the time of the request.  You are entitled to this free report no more than once each calendar year, and if/when you are denied credit based on information contained in a report. (you have 60 days to request your report from the date of the denial)

You also have the right to know the names of anyone who may have reviewed your credit file, within certain time periods, usually one or two years for various types of views (credit, employment etc.)

IF you discover any inaccuracy, or dispute any of the information in your file, you have the right to file a dispute with the providing agency.  The credit reporting agencies are legally obligated to investigate any written disputes.  If the resolution is not to your satisfaction, you have the right to add an explanation to your file.

There seems to be as many companies offering free credit reports in the print and broadcast media as there are fish in the sea, but there is only one source created and maintained by the three major credit reporting agencies for the purposes of compliance with the FACT ACT:  www.annualcreditreport.com. 

THIS SITE DOES NOT ADVERTISE OR OTHERWISE SOLICIT YOUR BUSINESS! 

Please read the fine print on any offers for free credit reports that you receive, there is always a catch (you need to subscribe to or purchase something) 

For more information on AnnualCreditReport.com click here

To access and utilize the annualcreditreport.com site, click the link below, but be forewarned, if there is any question of the validity of annualcreditreport.com's claim that it was created to comply with government regulations and NOT to solicit users, that question is emphatically answered as soon as one begins to use the site.  It tends to be a bit cumbersome to use.  When you begin to use the site, you will need to navigate to each of the credit reporting agencies one at a time, and re-register and log in each time you return to the main site prior to going to the next.  If you find it a touch cumbersome, then you are indeed on the right site!

Also, after my little speech about all of the other companies offering a free report in return for buying something, I have to say that in our next post, you will be directed, by us, to purchase your score from each credit reporting company.  Remember, these are all separate business entities and are in business to make money....and they will be happy to sell you any of a variety of services, from scores to credit file monitoring.  If you want your credit score, you will need to buy them when you visit each site (at a cost ranging from $5.00 to $8.00 each).  Whether or not you subscribe to a credit monitoring or other service is up to you, we make no recommendations in this area...and the actural credit report itself is free. 

As I indicated above, we will post about credit scores next, and then look for our tutorial on how to read the reports.

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

• Annual Credit Report
• FTC Identity Theft Site
• FCRA Act
• FACT Act

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